October

October 31st

Vic went to the
SPCA
to go out on the Petmobile, and I stayed in and played with
Tilly.
In the afternoon, I went over to
the airfield
to look at the trim control on the
Flightstar,
and ended up deciding that it needs a new cable, as the current one is kinked at the
end. Of course, I managed to break off a rivet, so I poked around looking for a
replacement so I could go and fly. I found one, and headed out to see what's what.
It was a little cold up, as I'd forgotten a scarf and the sun was going down - now
it's the winter, I can fly earlier as there are fewer thermals. Must remember that
:o)

October 30th

When we woke up, Anoki was having problems, but died before Vic
could get her to a vet. We took her over to the vet so they could do an autopsy and
see if there's anything to be learned. She's going to be cremated.

October 29th

Anoki, one of the guinea pigs has had a
kidney stone,
so Vic got up early to take her to the vet's for an operation to remove it. In the
evening, she went and picked her up. Anoki was drowsy and in pain, so we stayed in
so Vic could keep an eye on her.

October 27th

Mike was again supposed to be coming up to get his annual, but
didn't come after Vince told him it was probably going to rain.

I cooked spaghetti in the evening anyway, and Vince came over to eat and play with
Tilly.

October 26th

Mike was supposed to be coming up to get his annual inspection
for his plane, but didn't show up.

October 24th

It rained again (1.1") so we just watched TV.

October 23rd

It rained (0.55") all bloody day, so other than tinkering around
in the garage, all we did was watch TV.

October 22nd

Gwen came over on her way home to play with
Tilly
and to see the new guinea pig.

Vic came home from the
SPCA
with another rescue guinea pig - this one is going to lose all his hair through
mistreatment, so he'll be here for a few months while it all grows back.

October 19th

Vince called to say he'd sold his BMW engine all set up for
a plane, so we went out to dinner to celebrate.

October 17th

Vic was at the
SPCA,
so I spent the day tinkering about with stuff around the house in between rainy
spells.

October 16th

We got up reasonably early (for a Saturday) and loaded up the
Jeep
so Vic could go to Lake McClure for the Octoberfest
hang gliding
event.
Tilly
and I stayed in and watched TV, played ball and played ball. We also went out and
made a start on cleaning the hot tub. THen we played ball and I chased Tilly around
the garden with the hose pipe.

When Vic got back, it seems that the ladder on the roof had moved about a bit -
enough to wear off the powdercoating on the light bar. I'll have to think about
that a bit.

October 15th

Vic went to a
House Rabbit Society
thing in the evening, so I watched
G.I. Joe
streaming from
Netflix.
The movie sucked out loud, but the streaming was pretty seamless - there were only a
few places where I could see the pixellation.

October 14th

I signed up for a trial of
Netflix,
so now we don't even have to go the mile to the nearest
Redbox
to rent a movie. I've started loading stuff into the instant and DVD rental queue,
but I'll be honest, I don't see us needing it for too long.

October 13th

After work we went out and put the lift doohickey back on the hot
tub. It was a struggle, being so close to the house, but it's all finished now, that's
the main thing. Now I just need the time to clean everything out and refill it. No
rush there, as it's been unseasonably warm here this week. It's not like we'd be
using it too much at the moment.

October 12th

I went over to Sacramento to the DHS office to get my fingerprints
and photograph taken for my new green card. It's supposedly a formality, like the
driving license, they'll just send it to me now, but apparently it takes up to a year
to send me the card, and mine runs out in March. You can't apply until 6 months before
yours expires, but it's OK, as they extend your current card. Mine's been extended to...
April.

I rode the
DRZ
over, so as not to get stuck in traffic, and on the way home I took the back roads and
went past the
site of yesterday's fire.
It's quite big, but doesn't seem to have actually got to any houses.

October 11th

My first day back at work. Whee.

In the afternoon, we got a call from the
Loomis Fire Department's
robodialer, something about a voluntary evacuation. We had no idea where the fire was,
and thought it was
this one,
which is miles away, rather than, as we discovered later,
this one.

October 10th

I started the day by pulling the #12 pin out of the VGA connector
for the TV. This means that the HTPC can no longer query it for the resolution to run.
I again forced it to use my new EDID driver, and now it seems to stay at 1366x768 @ 60Hz.
We'll see how long this lasts, as I've seen it work fine for a few days before. It has
stopped flashing when you turn it on, so it doesn't look like it's attempting to "fix"
the resolution any more. After that, I spent some time in the garage, where I put the
lift doohickey for the hot tub back together, and moved it all to the hot tub, only to
find that the paint hadn't stuck to one side properly. I got the rest fitted, so I just
need to come back to this when I've sprayed this part again.

I dug out an old MP3 player that I was thinking I could use in the
Flightstar,
but it seems that the battery is dead. They're a lot cheaper and lighter these days,
so I'll probably just get a new one. Or persuade Vic to give up her beloved iPod for a
newer one with more memory.

In the evening, we went to
the airfield,
and pulled the Flightstar out for a quick flight around the area. We flew over the
house, as Fred's brought his trailer back from the mountains, and I wanted to get a
picture of it before he parks it away down the side of the house for the
winter.

Vic's been having trouble with her feet, and one quack said she
needs a hard orthotic support, and another said she needs a soft one. I've suggested
she doesn't need one at all, so for less than the cost of an insert, we went and bought
a pair of
Vibram 5 fingers shoes,
working on the assumption that millions of years of evolution can't be wrong. We'll
see how she does with those. While we were at
REI,
I picked up a couple of cheap cycling mirrors. When we got home, I hacked one up to fit
on the
YSR,
so that's almost ready to get registered. I've sat and looked at the non flashing
flasher unit, and decided that the problem is the bulb wattages - crazily it's cheaper
to buy a variable load flasher relay than it is to buy the correct wattage bulbs, even
assuming that they'd fit in the little indicators that I've got. So, I've ordered a new
variable load flasher relay.

October 8th

Vic went to look at a couple of guinea pigs, and I pulled apart the
lift doohickey for the hot tub, cleaned and sprayed it with "rust proof" paint. I'm
going to leave it all a while to harden before doing anything else with it, as I have a
tendency to put stuff together while it's still green, and tear the paint.

In the afternoon, Larry called wanting to go flying, so I packed all my stuff in the
van
and headed to
the airfield,
where Vince was already there and waiting to go. Larry pulled his trike out, I pulled
the
Flightstar
out and we headed toward Far West Lake, where we promptly lost Vince. We toodled about
looking for him for a while, before heading home as it was starting to get dark. Once
down and packed away, Vince called and said he was fine, and where had we been. We've
suggested he gets his radio fixed :o)

When I got home, we had 2 more guinea pigs, Amber and Pumpkin. Amber seems a lot
calmer, so we'll see how long it takes them to settle down and start squeaking for
attention like the others.

October 7th

I've been looking at the lid on the hot tub for a while - it tasks
me. For a start, the slope of the patio is just enough to allow water to collect on
the cover and sit there. Then there's the fact that the new cover is about 2" thicker
than the old cover, so it hits the house when you open it. And the lift doohickey is
pretty rusty. So, I took the lift doohickey off, and apart, so I can chip off the
powder coating to get at the rust underneath it. I then took off two of the side covers
and swapped them around, so I can rotate the cover by 90 degrees. Unfortunately the
front, where all the pumps and electronics are, is different from the other side, so I
need to drill new holes in those side covers, but I have the cover sitting how I want
it. Now I just need to take the lift doohickey to pieces and paint it before I start to
put it all together and remount it on the hot tub. Then I'll get the tub all cleaned up
and look at filling it for the winter, seeing as the temperature's started to drop at
night to the point where we'll actually use the thing.

I spent a while going through the registry on the HTPC and forcing everything to use
1366x768 @ 60Hz, and it seemed OK after a few reboots. Now, when the PC comes up at
1280x1024, you can usually just "sleep" it, and restart it and it'll get it right. It's
still not perfect, and note that I said "usually" :o(

October 6th

I wasted the day just playing with
Tilly,
but Vic went out and did stuff. She picked Lucky up from the vet after her operation,
but Lucky died on the way home. We buried her in the garden.

October 5th

I went out to get the lawnmower out to cut the grass, and found it
completely empty. The tank was dry, it was that empty. I filled it, and watched the
fuel leaking out. Interestingly, it wasn't leaking when it was running, so I got to
cut the grass before draining the tank and taking everything on the side apart - the
fuel line was badly cracked. That was easy enough to replace, but now the tank leaks
around the seam where I think the gasket has shrunk from drying out. I left it with
enough gas that it was just below the seam - we'll see if the gasket swells out a bit,
or if I need to take it all apart again.

In the afternoon, Vic took Lucky to the vet. Lucky has enlarged glands, so she's
staying overnight so she can have them removed in the morning.

We spent a few hours playing around with the
Jeep
and the ladder that we use when going
hang gliding.
After a bit of fiddling, it all fits on the Jeep, and we reckon Vic can go gliding as
everything is now, but I want to knock up a support for the front as well.

In the evening we barbecued, and Vince came over to play with
Tilly
and watch
Iron Man 2.
It was OK, I guess, but not as good as the first one.

October 2nd

I spent some quality time in the garage playing with the
YSR,
and got the oil pump all set up while Vic and Julie took pictures in the back garden
with Anoki. Julie likes
Tilly,
but won't pay more than $35 for her. I'd have taken $20, sucker.